In 2006 and 2007, 400 school children in the City of Los Angeles were injured in traffic collisions while being picked up or dropped off at school. Some of the most significant traffic congestion in our city occurs in the morning and in the afternoon in the immediate vicinity of our schools. Children who walk or ride a bike to school these days must jockey for position with School buses, Mass Transit and family vehicles.... [continue]

This past Saturday night, the Los Angeles Police Department set up a Sobriety Check Point on Hollywood Boulevard between Gower and Bronson and staffed the effort with officers from the local Hollywood Station as well as a couple of dozen officers from West Traffic Division. Captain Nancy Lauer, Commanding Officer of West Traffic, said they were committed to making the streets safer for everybody. "One of the most effective things we can do is remove... [continue]

Dr. Christopher Thompson of Mandeville Canyon, the man accused of assaulting two cyclists with his vehicle on Mandeville Canyon Road during the morning of Fourth of July, had his day in court today. At 8:30 a.m. he appeared at the airport courthouse, pleaded innocent to felony charges of assault with a deadly weapon reckless driving causing injury (2) and battery with serious bodily injury (2) and the special allegation of causing great bodily injury. His... [continue]

Last night's 13th Annual Griffith Park Holiday Light Festival community meeting opened with the DWP reps explaining to the public that the Festival is off limits to cyclists because "these aren't public streets." Protests from the audience elicited a response from Councilmember Tom LaBonge to have the lawyers take a look at it. When it was pointed out that they are indeed public streets, operated by the City of Los Angeles and open to the... [continue]

Brendt Barbur's Bicycle Film Festival opened strong with an enthusiastic crowd filling the sidewalk of Hollywood Boulevard as the The What Cheer Brigade, a "Luddite Hard Core Marching Band," marched down the street and proceeded to stop traffic, both motor vehicle and pedestrian. After drawing in the crowd, they pulled a Pied Piper and marched into the Vine Theatre, followed by their audience, leaving them pumped up and ready for a Shorts Program that featured... [continue]

The Bicycle Film Festival takes over the Vine Theatre on Friday and Saturday and wraps with an all day BFF Street Party at Heliotrope and Melrose (aka "The Bicycle District," aka "HelMel"). Valet parking is available (for bikes!) and the line-up includes favorites such as LA BIKE SCENE, KING OF SKITCH and ROAD TO ROUBAIX. Documentaries, Mockumentaries, Comedies, Alleycat Races, Olympic Races, Tests of Bravado and a local favorite, THE BIKE LANE, all come together... [continue]

The Red Line escalators have a horrendous performance record, one that has the Mitsubishi Maintenance crews snickering as they work full-time maintaining equipment they acknowledge is poorly designed and completely unreliable. (The upside is lifetime employment for the maintenance crew. Go Metro!) This past week I traveled from the Hollywood/Western station (the escalator has been down since July 1) to the Civic Center Station (the long street level escalator was out of service) and... [continue]

It's the end of the day at the end of the week and the parking lot on Hollywood Boulevard between Argyle and El Centro looks like a UPS Swap Meet. 10 Trucks are parked in a tight arrangement that allows the drivers to quickly reallocate or distribute the packages remaining on their trucks. In light of the recent spate of City, County, State, Metro and Utility vehicles that have been left idling on the streets... [continue]

--> Thursday afternoon, there were two DASH buses and a DASH shuttle vehicle parked on Hollywood Boulevard, all of them idling. The 2nd DASH bus had an operator at the wheel and he pulled out into the street, passing the 1st DASH bus and stopping to chat for a moment with an operator on the street who then jumped into the shuttle vehicle and drove away, leaving an idling DASH bus on the street.... [continue]

I was standing in a long line at the ATM on the parking lot side of the Sunset & Vine WaMu when I noticed an LAPD car circle around the parking lot and then pull up to the red zone just to the right of the access ramp. The driver left the car running, got out and came and stood in the painfully-slow-and-not-moving-very-fast line. We had time to chat. Lots of time to chat.... [continue]

Update: The outcome of this incident has been updated here.On July 4th, about 300 cyclists gathered at the Manhattan Beach Starbucks for a Holiday Ride to the top of Mandeville Canyon Road in Brentwood. The Holiday Ride is a regular event that takes place 5-6 times a year drawing cyclists from all over the greater LA area. Mandeville Canyon, off Sunset Blvd., is a steep and challenging ride and the crowd quickly thinned out... [continue]

The huge "Buses Only" parking lot at the Universal City Transit Center is rarely at capacity, in fact it is usually completely empty. This prime real estate sat empty and proved irresistible to this Caltrans driver who parked the rig, left the engine running, stretched, walked, made some phone calls and conducted some busy work in the back of the truck. Perhaps the operator had been driving for a long time and needed a... [continue]

The Flag ceremony at the Van Nuys Civic Center is enough to bring tears to your eyes.... [continue]

A little over a week ago, the Daily News reported that transit agencies were struggling with the increasing cost of fuel and that some were considering raising fares, cutting services and delaying upgrades as solutions to the strain on their operating budgets. Los Angeles Department of Transportation spokesperson Bruce Gillman reported that their fuel costs had gone from $4 million three years ago to $8.9 this fiscal year to fuel its fleet of 400... [continue]

The Metro's Universal City Red Line Transit Hub is an inhospitable cement heat island with just a lonely little shade tree to offer comfort to this weary Sheriff's Deputy who is secure in his patrol vehicle, windows rolled up, engine running, A/C blasting and head back, eyes closed. An idling engine, wasting fuel, polluting the air - small sacrifice when you consider the immense comfort provided to Metro's finest!... [continue]

The Metro now employs helpful Sheriff's Guides to assist disoriented or lost travelers. One of their first "rescues" this past weekend was this lost and disoriented CHP Officer who pulled off the very confusing LA Freeway system to seek the assistance of the Sheriff's Guides. (notice how he's sitting in an idling vehicle, facing against the flow of traffic)... [continue]

The Old Spaghetti Factory on Sunset Boulevard is gone, leaving a trail of b'day party memories, indigestion and chain link fencing in its wake. The Sunset & Gordon neighborhood has a big wide sidewalk but not much street life. The sound of the helicopter hovering overhead competes with the police sirens, the music pumping from the adjacent apartment building, the traffic on Sunset. This neighborhood needs a park! All it takes is the Los Angeles... [continue]

The rising cost of fuel has people from all walks of life making adjustments in their behavior and sacrifices in their lives. People are responding by walking more, riding bikes, using mass transit, consolidating trips, carpooling, traveling less, and in the case of the Gas Company, simply "doubling up" for lunch in order to conserve fuel.... [continue]

Yesterday was a big day for the Metro Board of Directors with an overflow crowd turning up to address an agenda offering up both a tax increase and the Long Range Transportation Plan for discussion. Both Steve Hymon and Damien Newton have great blog entries on the inner workings of the Board including Steve's live blogging from Board Chambers detailing the Mayor's absence, tardiness and eventual arrival.... [continue]

SuggestionBoxLA to Metro - No Idling on Layover! Rising fuel costs is impacting everybody, even mass transit customers, according to the Daily News. Transit Agencies use a variety of fuels ranging from diesel to CNG to electricity to Propane to gasoline. The situation is so dire that the State of California has a mechanism in place to set aside money from the State budget to send to transportation when fuel prices spike.... [continue]